


Origins

by PossiblyAwesomeAO3



Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games), Pro and Noob, Ragegamingvideos
Genre: hope it won't affect the quality, i figured cotton and aylia needed an origin story, i listened to god rest ye merry gentlemen and death by glamour while writing this, idk man pick whichever ship name you like, implied cylia, it's been a year since pro and noob started, or ayton, or coylia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-15 09:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17526533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PossiblyAwesomeAO3/pseuds/PossiblyAwesomeAO3
Summary: "So, uh...I heard you got...you got trapped by Shamos for...for two weeks.""I have no idea what you're talking about.""You know if you ever wanna' learn to hunt...actual...real monsters, with, like, a pro like me...""You know I have a job to do.""Well, if you ever change your mind...you know where to find me."





	Origins

**Author's Note:**

> so...it's been a year since pro and noob began! and i know that cotton kind of already gave their "origin story" in that short at the end of his small game hunter coral highlands video, but i wanted to put my own spin on it
> 
> also there's a little animatic over on my drawing channel to go with this if you want to check it out!

"Well, if you ever change your mind...you know where to find me." 

She got up and left before Cotton could say anything else, before he could say, _no, I don't. This ship is deceptively huge, you could be anywhere on it_. It wasn't like he'd known her, like they were old friends to the point where they could practically sense where the other one would be at any time. Hell, he'd just met her, not ten minutes prior. He'd been alone at his table, and she'd sat right down, introduced herself as Aylia, and got to talking. About the New World, the Fifth Fleet, the monsters she'd only had the chance to read about in the logs sent back by the fleets to come before theirs. And, to his surprise, she'd heard of him before, about his work as a small game hunter. She'd seemed surprised that he'd choose to fight the small beasts of the world rather than take on the rampaging monsters. 

Cotton was used to that, at least. He had been followed around by that same confusion since he started his work. He'd never paid it any mind before -- but the look in her eyes had made him falter for a brief second. She'd looked at him with genuine curiosity when she asked why, and no one had ever done that before. They usually met him with looks of pure confusion, or worse, looked at him like he was an idiot. 

He didn't reach out to stop her, no, but he did watch her for a moment as she left, a great sword already slung over her back (where she'd already found that, he had no idea). 

Maybe he would reach back out to her, one day. 

But not now. For now, he'd focus on why he came here in the first place. 

* * *

Cotton found himself at a different table, this time below deck, the next day, half-listening to another hunter seated next to him. They were meant to reach the New World either late that night or very early the next morning, depending on how the waters were. Cotton was excited, of course, but he was excited for a different reason than practically every other hunter aboard the ship. While the others were discussing the elder dragon mystery, he was lost in thought about all of the smaller creatures that would no doubt live in the New World, the ones the logs had briefly mentioned, but hadn't gone into to much detail. Cotton was absolutely certain that the smaller monsters were definitely being overlooked in favor of beasts like the elder dragons, which meant that he'd have a field practically all to himself in this New World. 

He was only jolted from his thoughts by a familiar face passing by. 

Aylia walked past his table, on her way towards a peppy looking girl with goggles. The great sword she'd had before was gone, probably left behind wherever her bunk was, and she'd changed into the classic leather hunter's uniform, as most of the others on the ship had. She waved at him as she passed with an easy smile on her face. Cotton didn't notice that the hunter beside him had stopped talking until he had waved back, and Aylia went on her way. 

"Well, looks like someone's caught her attention." The hunter said, and nudged Cotton's shoulder a little more forcefully than Cotton expected, like the hunter didn't realize his own strength. "Now you've got to tell me how you did it." 

"How I did what?" 

"How you got _the_ Aylia to look at you like that." Cotton's face must've given away his confusion, because the hunter gave him an incredulous look. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you couldn't see that. I've never seen her smile at anyone else like that this whole trip. Look at how she looks at her hunting partner." 

The hunter pointed across the room to where Aylia was standing next to the girl with the goggles, who Cotton assumed was her partner. The girl was practically bouncing up and down on her toes, and while Aylia was good at hiding it with a polite sort of smile on her face, Cotton could see what the hunter meant. There was something strained about her expression, like she was trying really hard not to just snap and tell the girl to stop talking. Still, he shook his head. 

"That doesn't mean she _likes_ me, if that's what you're implying." He said. "I only just met her last night. And what do you mean, the Aylia? Is there another Aylia I'm supposed to know about?" 

"See, now you must be kidding." The hunter chuckled, but when Cotton didn't say anything else, he raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're serious? Oh, man, what rock have you been living under? That's Aylia. As in, one of the most well-known hunters of our generation? She's taken down practically every monster the Old World has to offer. They say she took down a Shagaru Magala all by herself, at one point." 

Cotton figured it would be best to not let on that he didn't know what that was, either. Sure, he'd heard the name before, but he wasn't quite sure exactly what type of monster it was. He was pretty sure he'd been doing his first studies on Genprey when he'd heard that name start to pop up in conversations around certain villages, so he wouldn't have been focusing on anything else. Given how the hunter said it, though, he guessed it was something to be impressed by. 

"Wow." He said, but before he could say anything else, the hunter continued. 

"They also say she tried to sign herself up for the Fourth Fleet, but she was too young to go at that point, and she hadn't really started fighting yet. Can you imagine being the guy running the sign ups, and some fourteen year old kid comes running up? Her name was apparently the first on the list to go with the Fifth Fleet." The hunter said. "With her coming to the New World, you can bet we'll have the answer the Guild's been looking for in no time. I give it three months before she's gotten through every monster in the place. Hopefully she'll save some for the rest of us, you know what I mean?" 

"Yeah, I guess so." Cotton said, shrugging his shoulders. The hunter kept talking, rambling on about something that Cotton didn't bother to pay attention to. He'd known Aylia had called herself a pro, but she hadn't mentioned that she was a legend in the hunter community. Maybe she didn't like talking about it? Or maybe she was just clueless to the whole thing.

Either way, it didn't really matter. If she went through monsters at the speed that the hunter claimed she did, it was likely that she wouldn't waste her time on the small ones. Cotton assumed that once they got off this ship, their paths wouldn't cross again, and he'd be fine with that. She could do her own thing, and he'd do his. 

* * *

 

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. 

Cotton was alone now, standing at one of the windows below deck, staring off across the ever-expanding ocean, doing his best to not let his worries get the best of him. 

A few of the hunters had set up a sort of shooting competition to pass the time earlier, and the hunter from before had somehow convinced Cotton to get involved. Something about proving himself to the others aboard the ship. Cotton hadn't known that everyone had heard about why he'd signed up for the Fifth Fleet in the first place, but apparently, word had gotten around fast. 

_"Come on,_ " The hunter had said. _"You gotta' show these guys what you're made of!"_

Cotton shouldn't have ever stepped up to that plate in the first place. He was used to monsters that would allow you to get right next to them with a sword in your hand without so much as blinking. These hunters, however, had years of experience fighting against things that wouldn't even let them enter the same zone without hurling fireballs in their direction. They kept stressing the importance of being able to handle a long range weapon in case you needed it (which apparently, sometimes, you did). The other hunters had hit their targets easily, including Aylia, who had fired her arrow like it was the most natural thing in the world, like she did it as often as she opened a door. And even after that, she'd sighed when he arrow was just shy of the bullseye. 

" _Not dead on."_ He'd heard her say. " _I'm rusty with bows._ " 

Cotton hadn't even hit the target. His arrow had gone straight into the wall above the target, and he'd felt absolutely mortified as the entire room had gone silent, only to hear a few snickers minutes later. The hunter who'd sat next to him told him it was nothing to worry about. He'd said to blame the beer they'd all been drinking, that by the morning, he'd get it. Cotton wasn't so sure. 

"So, looks like I'm coming to find you, not the other way around." 

Cotton jumped, losing his train of thought at the sound of a familiar voice behind him. He turned, only to see Aylia standing there, her arms crossed casually over her chest. 

"What are you doing all by yourself over here?" She asked. "That redhead friend of yours said you've been moping over here since that shooting thing." 

"Just thinking." Cotton said, shrugging his shoulders. "What are you doing, coming over here? I figured everyone would be trying to say hi to you, based on what I've heard." 

"Oh, yeah. That. Everyone's actually been pretty cool. I mean, yeah, there have a been a few people, but most of the people here get it. They're hunters, I'm a hunter. There's nothing different between us." She came to stand beside him, resting her arms on the ledge of the window. "So...I figured I'd come ask why you're brooding over here instead of enjoying the last night on the ship." 

"I'm not brooding."

"Dude. You're staring at the sea like it's killed your mother and you're attempting to plot revenge. You're brooding." She said. "Look, so you're not that great at shooting. It's no big deal. You'll find your weapon eventually. Not everyone's great at everything."

"You sure seem to be." Cotton said. "You shot that arrow like it was nothing."

"Yeah, and got lucky. I've missed the target plenty of times in my life. It's really not that big of a deal." She shrugged. "I'm a great sword kind of girl, anyway. Seriously though, don't worry about it. You'll find your weapon, and then you'll be out there, hunting with the best of them."

"No, I won't be." Cotton said. "I told you last night, I'm here to look into all the new, smaller monsters. I'm not here to take on elder dragons like the rest of you." 

"Well, then, you'll be missing out on half the fun." Aylia said. 

Cotton didn't really know how to respond to that, so he didn't. Yes, when he overheard other hunters swapping their hunting stories, tales of epic victories and ridiculous kills, it did sound like fun, but he knew that he'd never make it ten seconds up against one of the bigger monsters. Sure, he could take some of the easier ones, like a Great Jagras, but some of the hunters talked about killing monsters he'd only ever seen in pictures before. 

"So...I think I've got a deal for you." 

Cotton snapped out of his thoughts, and looked over at Aylia to find her smiling at him. 

"I get that you like hunting small game, and that's your whole thing, but I think someone ought to teach you how to properly fight something big." She said. "After all, you're an official member of the Fifth Fleet. They'll expect you to be able to go on whatever missions they assign you, small game or not. You need someone to teach you how to take down something bigger than a Bullfango." 

"Hey, Bullfango are a _menace_ -"

"And I'm not denying that." Aylia cut in. "I'm just saying. You need proper training, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've had enough experience to be able to be a decent teacher. I have no problem with you going on your small game hunts still, but I'm thinking...now and then you come on hunts with me, and I can show you the ropes. What do you say?" 

Cotton stared at her for a few minutes, uncertain about the whole thing. 

"This isn't just out of pity for me, right?" 

"No." Aylia said, but hesitated. "Okay, maybe just a tad. But that's not the majority, I swear. I've kind of always wanted to take someone on hunts with me, and teach them how to do it right. There are going to be so many new monsters here, yeah, but there's also apparently a few that a lot more recognizable, and it'll be fun to show you how to take them down. Seriously. I think it'll be fun for both of us." 

Cotton gave her a look. Something about the way she spoke made it seem like there was something more that she wasn't telling him, and apparently, there was, because she sighed. 

"Fine. Also, the partner they gave me is driving me absolutely crazy. She's nice and all, but she never shuts up and her voice is so fucking grating. If I'm stuck with her the whole time I'm here, I'll probably start wanting to hunt her more than the actual monsters. I'm dying for a partner swap, here, and you seem like you're not going to make me want to feed you to an Odogaron."

There it was. 

"Won't she get upset if you do a partner swap?" Cotton asked, and Aylia waved off his question. 

"Please. She'll probably be excited to have another person to endlessly talk to." She said, and extended her hand to him. "So? Partners?" 

Cotton looked down at her hand. He honestly hadn't been planning on having a partner the whole time he was in the New World. He'd expected to be on his own, hunting the small game like he usually did. He was used to it by now. And yet, at the same time, he knew she was right. This New World wouldn't be like the old one, where if he didn't want to fight any bigger monsters, he just wouldn't check the quest postings. Here, he'd be expected to have a partner. He'd be expected to fight whatever the Commission expected him to fight, and to do that, he'd need some help. And Aylia seemed sincere. She hadn't made fun of him when he'd told her he preferred small game, and wasn't trying to convince him to quit the small game thing alone, either. She seemed like she really did just want to help him (and get a new partner, but he guessed he couldn't blame her there). 

After a few seconds, he relented, and shook her hand. 

"Alright. Partners." 

"Yes!" She grinned, but didn't have much time to celebrate. 

A crash shook the boat, and the both of them nearly lost their balance. Cotton had to grab onto the wall to keep from falling over, as he saw some of the other hunters below deck weren't so lucky, falling flat on their faces at the tremor. 

"The hell is that?" Cotton asked, looking over at Aylia, who, despite the situation, had an excited look over her face. She grabbed his wrist, and before he could protest, she started pulling him up the stairs to the deck of the ship. "Hey, slow down!" 

"There's three things I want you to know about hunting." She said, ignoring his shout. "That small game you've been hunting? They're not monsters." 

Cotton was about to ask her what she meant, but at that moment, what looked like a volcano suddenly emerged in front of the boat, and the deck started to turn upwards. Cotton barely had time to think, he just grabbed onto the first sturdy beam he could find, clinging onto it for dear life. Luckily, Aylia had the same idea, but she was grinning ear to ear. 

" _That_ ," She said, pointing up at the mountain. "is a monster." 

Cotton had figured it was a mountain before, but now that he took a second to look, he realized she was right. It wasn't just a mountain -- it was moving (slowly, but still moving). The boat was caught on the monster's back, and started to tip even further, getting close to a 90 degree angle. 

"Come on!" Aylia said, aiming her slinger up towards the monster itself, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted to do. 

"What? Are you fucking _insane_ , we're not going on that thing!" Cotton yelled, though it was hard to hear over the sounds of the waves crashing violently below, the monster itself, and the people screaming. 

"Second thing I want you to know about hunting!" Aylia exclaimed, looking back at him. "You have to be a little bit insane to do it!" 

"Wait a second, what's the third thing?" Cotton frowned, and felt like he was going to regret knowing it as she smiled back at him. 

"Always bring a second toad, duh." She said, and grabbed his arm right as she fired her grappling hook, pulling Cotton up with her. 

Before that day, Cotton would have said that rocketing towards the back of a monster so big that it literally looked like a mountain would have been the craziest thing he'd ever done. 

What he didn't know was that by agreeing to team up with Aylia, this was only the beginning. 

 


End file.
